FYI on the FBI and airlines

Wed, 2004-05-05 16:42

Accordiing to Saturday’s New York Times, the release of airline passenger data in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks airlines including American, United and Northwest gave the FBI millions of records on their customers.

The point was for the agency to be able to analyze and develop a kind of travel profile that would help them identify future terrorists, says the article.

But it was all for nought: "There is no indication that the passenger data produced any significant evidence about the plot or the hijackers, the F.B.I. official said."